A/N: Wow, I deserve to be shot for taking this long to update. For those who are actually following this story, i sincerely apologize for taking 3 months to update. Just too much going on right now, between college, writers block, family issues, and having to take a second job, I haven't had a spare second to sit down and work on this. Hopefully you guys will enjoy this chapter and forgive me for taking so long. As for future updates, well, i 100% REFUSE to abandon this story, but updates for it will most likely come pretty slow, just as a warning.
As always, I don't own Bleach
"Are you kidding me? I seriously have to wear this!?" Zansatsu called from the bathroom.
"Yeah, you're an Espada now, you have to," Apache said back.
"Dammit, why couldn't I just stick with my shihakusho?" Zansatsu growled.
"Because you're an Espada now," she repeated, "why are you making such a big deal about it?"
"Ugh, I don't like wearing white," he said, opening the door and stepping out into the main room. He was no longer wearing his black shihakusho, but one of the white uniforms that the rest of the arrancars wore. It was the exact opposite of his old shinigami uniform, a white jacket that came down to his knees, a white hakama, and a black obi.
"Hey, you look good in it," Apache said.
"It's just so weird," Zansatsu said, looking at himself in the mirror, "I've been wearing that black uniform for years, and now it's the complete opposite."
There was a loud, aggressive knock on Zansatsu's door, then came Grimmjow's voice, "Yo, Aizen's called all the Espada for a meeting, let's go."
Zansatsu pulled open the door and followed Grimmjow. Apache took off in the opposite direction toward to training room.
"So what's this meeting about?" Zansatsu asked as he walked with Grimmjow toward the meeting room.
"Hell if I know," Grimmjow said.
They stepped into the room, Grimmjow took his seat across from Ulquiorra. Zansatsu sat down in the seat next to Grimmjow and across from Stark, who was leaning back in his chair, half asleep. Aizen walked in, closely followed by Gin and Kaname.
"Good morning my dear Espada," Aizen said, taking his seat, "I've called you all here today because the time has come for us to begin our assault on Karakura Town."
"Heh, it's about damn time," Grimmjow piped up loudly, a wide, evil smile forming on his face.
"Don't get too exited Grimmjow," Aizen silenced him, "I'm not going to send in all of the Espada right from the start, that would be foolish."
The smile vanished from Grimmjow's face, and he sat back in his seat, looking frustrated.
"I'm only going to send one Espada," Aizen said, looking at each one of them before speaking again. "Zansatsu, does soul society know that you are still alive?"
"I'm not sure sir," Zansatsu replied, "they probably know that I'm still alive, but I doubt they know that I've joined you."
"Then I think it's about time they found out what's become of you," Aizen drawled, "I'm sending you Karakura Town. By now, I'm sure Soul Society knows that I plan to destroy that town to create the King's Key, and they have most likely stationed several Shinigami in the area. I want you to go there, and wipe them out, every last one of them."
"Yes sir," Zansatsu nodded, bowing before Aizen.
"You make take two other non-Espada arrancars with you," Aizen continued, "you will leave in two hours, meeting adjourned."
"Halibel, Barragan, could I borrow the two of you for a second?" Zansatsu asked, as the Espada began to leave the room.
Halibel and Barragan turned to face him, "Well, what is it," Barragan snapped impatiently.
"Aizen said I could bring two others with me, if it's all right with the two of you, I'd like to bring Apache and Ggio Vega with me," Zansatsu said.
"Do as you will," Barragan grunted, "I'll have him meet up with you in two hours." He turned and stalked out of the room.
"You may take Apache with you," Halibel said sharply, "but don't you dare let anything happen to her."
"No chance," said Zansatsu, bowing before Halibel.
"You're an Espada now, you don't have to bow before me anymore."
"Oh, right, old habit."
Zansatsu made his way to the training room to find Apache, passing two of Barragan's Fraccion, Findor and Avarama along the way.
He opened the training room door to find Apache sparring with Mila Rose. Sun-Sun sat in the corner of the room, and appeared to be quite bored. It had been a while since he'd seen Apache fight, and she had improved tremendously. She kept Mila-Rose on the defensive as she hacked and slashed with her Chakram weapon with perfect precision, stepping back every so often to fire a Bala blast at her.
He leaned against the door, watching the two of them fight. A grin spread across his face as he saw Apache block Mila-Rose sword with one blade, and used the other one to knock the sword out of Mila-Rose's hands. She followed with a swift kick to the abdomen, sending Mila-Rose straight into the wall.
"Damn, you've gotten really good," Zansatsu beamed as he began walking toward them.
Apache turned around and flashed a smile at him, "How long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough to see that you've improved ten-fold since the last time I saw you train. You all right over there?" he called to Mila-Rose.
"Just peachy," she staggered to her feet, massaging the area where Apache had kicked her.
"So what's going on, what was the meeting about?" Apache asked.
"Aizen's sending me to Karakura town to wipe out the shinigami stationed there," Zansatsu explained, "and you and Ggio Vega are coming with me."
A wide grin appeared on Apache's face, "Finally, I get to put all this damn training to use."
"I'm itching for a good fight myself," Zansatsu said, cracking his knuckles, "we're leaving in an hour. Sorry Mila-Rose, I'm gonna have to steal your sparring partner for today."
"Whatever, we were pretty much finished anyway," she sheathed her sword.
Zansatsu laughed, "If you want, you can have my sparring partner for the day."
"Fuck that," she grunted, shuddering at the thought of sparring with Nnoitra.
Zansatsu and Apache left the training room and headed back to his room.
"So…we have an hour before we leave," Apache said, taking his hand in hers and smiling seductively at him, "now how do you think we should spend that hour?"
What little self-control Zansatsu had left in him was gone as she spoke those words. He turned toward her and pinned her against the wall, pressing his lips against hers, slowly moving down towards her neck. He flinched as he felt her bite down on his shoulder. It hurt like hell, but at the same time, he loved the way it felt. He forced open the door to his room, slammed the door behind him, and as they made their way toward the bed, he found himself once again extremely glad that the room next to his was unoccupied.
"Shit, we're gonna be late," Apache yelled as she and Zansatsu sprinted toward meeting room where Ggio Vega was waiting for them.
"And who's fault is that?" he shot back at her, "you're the one who insisted on 'round two'." That earned him a swift elbow in the face.
"Oww, now, was that really necessary?" he groaned, now sporting a fresh black eye.
"Sorry, didn't see you there," she said sarcastically, but laughing all the same.
"Nice of you two to show up," Ggio said and they came running into the room. He was leaning against the wall with his eyes closed, as though he'd just been asleep.
"Sorry, we were busy with….uhh," Zansatsu tried to come up with a reason.
Ggio gave a small laugh, "Oh, come on, I'm not stupid, I know full well what the two of you were doing."
"Then I think we'll leave it at that and start this mission," Zansatsu said, "lets see, Aizen said it went something like this."
Zansatsu drew his zanpakutou and slashed through the air, opening a garganta portal.
"Ok, let's go," and the three of them stepped though the portal.
"So, if you don't mind me asking, why did you choose me to go with you on this mission?" Ggio asked as they walked though realm between Hueco Mundo and the world of the living.
"Two very simple reasons," Zansatsu answered, "number one, you're a great fighter, number two, you're one of the few arrancars who don't annoy me."
Ggio smiled at this compliment. "Ok, we're here," Zansatsu drew his zanpakutou and slashed at the air once again. They stepped through the tear in the garganta and into the world of the living.
It was around mid-afternoon on a hot summer day in Karakura town. They didn't have to look very far for their targets after stepping through the garganta, one of them was directly beneath them. Zansatsu recognized the shinigami as Rangiku Matsumoto, who, despite her good looks, was one of the most annoying people Zansatsu had ever met.
"Heh, I got dibs on milk jugs," Apache said, staring down at Rangiku. Zansatsu chuckled at the nickname. "That's Rangiku Matsumoto, she's the lieutenant of the tenth division," Zansatsu explained, "her sword release turns the blade into ash, don't let it touch you."
"Got it," Apache nodded, and she disappeared with a burst of sonido. Zansatsu closed his eyes, searching for other traces of reiatsu nearby. He grinned as he picked up the reiatsu of another lieutenant that he couldn't stand. "Ggio, about five hundred yards south of here, you'll find Kira Izuru. He's the lieutenant of the third division. When his zanpakutou is released, it doubles the weight of anything it touches, so don't let him land a hit on you."
"You chose the right guy for this job then," Ggio said, taking off in the direction of Kira.
He looked down and observed Apache's fight with Rangiku. Apache had already managed to land several hits on the lieutenant, while remaining completely unscathed herself.
"Growl, Haineko," Rangiku yelled. The blade of her zanpakutou turned to ash and began to surround Apache.
"Heh, not good enough," Apache yelled as she rose into the air, firing three quick bala blasts at Rangiku.
Rangiku pulled the ash that was her zanpakuto back towards her, blocking two of the three bala blasts, but the third one caught her directly in the abdomen, sending her flying backwards off her feet.
"You're seriously a lieutenant!?" Apache mocked as she descended back down to the ground, "I was expecting a lot more from someone with that title."
Rangiku gritted her teeth, "Limit Release," she yelled.
Apache stepped back as Rangiku's reiatsu rose to five times what it had been before. Rangiku looked off in the distance to see Kira locked in battle with another arrancar.
"Raise your head, Wabisuke," Kira yelled. His zanpakutou warped itself into a katana with a square hook at the end.
Ggio chucked to himself, "That's one weird ass sword."
"You wont be saying that when it lops off your head," Kira growled back.
Ggio laughed, "Bullshit, you haven't been able to land a single hit on me yet. Even if your sword doubles that weight of anything it hits, it's useless if you cant even hit me."
Kira's eyes widened, "I never told him what my zanpakutou does, how did he know?"
"Limit Release," Kira yelled.
"Oh, so you were holding back," Ggio grinned, "not a good idea if you wanna live."
Zansatsu hovered above Apache, observing her fight with the squad ten lieutenant.
"She really has improved a lot," he thought to himself, but he didn't have time to sit back and observe any longer, because at that moment, he felt a Captain level reiatsu flying straight for Apache. Zansatsu unsheathed his Zanpakutou and flash stepped down to her, just in time to block the strike that would've cleaved Apache in half.
"Never knew you were one for sneak attacks, Captain Hitsugaya," Zansatsu growled at him, "sorry, but I can't let you kill this one. I'm rather fond of her."
Hitsugaya's eyes widened as he looked up at who had blocked his attack.
"Zansatsu!?" he choked out, absolutely dumbstruck, "what's going on? Why are you dressed like an arrancar?"
"Heh, let's see if your feeble mind can put two and two together and figure it out yourself," Zansatsu shot back, pouring some reiatsu into his sword and forcing the squad ten Captain back.
"You….you joined Aizen!?," Hitsugaya said, releasing the limiter on his power.
"Well, would ya look at that, he figured it out all by himself," Zansatsu taunted, "as I recall, you were one of the first to come chasing after me. I'm gonna enjoy carving you into little pieces."
Zansatsu charged forward, aiming a horizontal slash at the Captain. Hitsugaya flash stepped so that he now hovered above Zansatsu.
"Reign over the frosted Heavens, Hyorinmaru," he bellowed, sending the massive ice dragon that was his Shikai down toward Zansatsu,
Zansatsu's mouth curled upward into a sadistic smile, "Lay To Waste, Zangyaku," as he spoke, he gained his shield aura, and a katana seething with black fire. He brought the blade back, and swung it forward, sending a jet of fire straight at Hitsugaya's Shikai. The blistering fire made short work of the ice dragon, reducing it to nothing more than a harmless puddle of water.
Off to his right, he saw Apache send Rangiku flying into a large building. Zansatsu grinned, Apache had won, Rangiku's Reiatsu was practically non-existent. He saw Ggio appear next to Apache with a buzz of Sonido. He was in his Ressurreccion form and his blades were covered in blood.
"How'd it go?" Zansatsu asked.
Ggio grinned and licked the blood from one of the blades, "Oh, I seriously doubt he'll survive after losing that much blood."
"All right, now stay back, you two got to have your fun, now it's my turn," Zansatsu growled, turning back to Hitsugaya. His eyes were wide, staring at the wrecked building where Rangiku's life was slowly fading.
"This is a fight, pay attention," Zansatsu snapped, bringing his blade down on top of Hitsugaya's.
"I'm gonna kill every last one of you," Zansatsu roared at the Captain.
"Bankai," Hitsugaya bellowed at the top of his lungs.
Zansatsu jumped back as Hitsugaya became shrouded in white fog. When the fog cleared, Hitsugaya now had wings made of ice, and a long icy tail.
"Heh, so quick to resort to Bankai," Zansatsu jeered at him, "that's the kind of thing that makes you a second rate Captain."
"Ryusenka," Hitsugaya yelled, bringing his zanpakutou down against Zansatsu's, effectively encasing him in ice, however, the fire radiating form Zansatsu's blade melted the ice almost instantly.
"You can't win," Zansatsu said, "think about it, your zanpakutou deals in ice, whereas mine deals in fire."
Zansatsu then drove his katana into the ground, causing a ring of fire to erupt around the two of them. He pulled his katana from the ground and swung it upward, causing the ring of fire to rise, forming a dome in which Zansatsu and Hitsugaya were now trapped.
"I've heard that you absolutely loathe the heat," Zansatsu said, "let's see just how much of it you can take."
Zansatsu raised his left hand in the air and released some of his reiatsu, causing the temperature within the dome to rise at an alarming rate. Hitsugaya watched in horror as his Bankai began to melt away, soon leaving him with nothing but his sealed katana. His skin was drying and beginning to crack under the intense heat. Soon, it became too much, and Hitsugaya fell forward, unconscious.
Zansatsu dismissed the dome of flames, and stood before the unconscious Hitsugaya, "And that makes two Captains," he thought to himself. He raised his blade, about to decapitate the young Captain, but-
"GETSUGA TENSHO,"
Zansatsu whirled around to see massive blue beam of energy flying straight at him. He didn't have time to react. The beam hit him, dead on. Apache's eyes went wide.
As the dust cleared, Zansatsu stood there, down on one knee. His shield aura had absorbed most of the impact, but he didn't escape completely unscathed. He brought his hand to the left side of his neck, feeling warm blood slowly running from the wound.
He turned toward to source of the attack. There stood an orange haired Shinigami wielding a zanpakutou that looked like a giant cleaver. Zansatsu ascended up toward him.
"Well, congratulations, you drew blood," Zansatsu said, "what's your name, I ain't seen you before."
"Kurosaki Ichigo," the orange haired Shinigami replied.
Zansatsu's eyes went wide and a grin spread across his face, "Kurosaki? You're that Ryoka kid who beat Captain Zaraki and Captain Kuchiki."
"You sure know a lot about Soul Society for an arrancar," Ichigo retorted.
Zansatsu laughed, "Take a good look at me Kurosaki, and tell me, other than the uniform, do I look anything like an arrancar to you?"
"You're a Shinigami!?" Ichigo couldn't believe what he was hearing, "if you're one of us, then why are you dressed like one of them, and why were you about to kill Toshiro?"
"Long story, don't feel like explaining," Zansatsu replied.
"Well, if you think I'm gonna let you get away with what you did to Toshiro and the others, then you're sadly mistaken."
"Hold it, Kurosaki Ichigo," came a voice from behind Zansatsu. Zansatsu looked behind him, and felt his blood boil over in anger. Before him, stood Captain Yamamoto.
Zansatsu flash stepped over to Apache and Ggio, and tore open a garganta. "Go back and tell Aizen that their Captain General has made his appearance."
The two of them hurried through the portal, and Zansatsu turned back to face to man he despised more than anything.
"Stand back Kurosaki, I will handle this myself," Yamamoto boomed, raising his walking stick, and revealing the katana hidden within it.
"You don't know how long I've waited for this," Zansatsu growled, his eyes glowing with pure hatred and anger.
"Don't think for one second, that just because you are stronger than a Soul Society Captain, that you have any chance of winning against me in a fight Zansatsu," Yamamoto barked, drawing his katana.
"Fuck you, old man," Zansatsu charged a massive jet of fire and sent it straight at Yamamoto.
"Reduce all creation to ash, Ryujin Jakka," Yamamoto yelled, sending his own jet of fire at Zansatsu. The two attacks met in mid air, Zansatsu poured as much reiatsu as he could into his attack, but it wasn't enough. Yamamoto's attack prevailed, and Zansatsu was hit with the full force of it.
"Shit," he groaned as he was blasted off his feet. His shield aura absorbed a fair amount of the attack, but it still left a large burn all along Zansatsu's chest and the side of his face. Zansatsu got to his feet, but almost immediately dropped back down to his knees.
"Get up, get up dammit," he told himself. But it was no use, Zansatsu had poured everything he had into his last attack, and after being hit with Yamamoto's attack, he couldn't even stand anymore. Yamamoto approached Zansatsu, his katana resting on his shoulder, staring down at Zansatsu, noticing the tattoo of the number seven on his arm.
"Good riddance, Espada," Yamamoto growled.
Yamamoto brought his blade back, about to finish off Zansatsu, but jumped back as a yellow beam of light shot down toward Zansatsu.
"What the-" Zansatsu said, looking up and seeing a garganta portal, and standing inside the portal, was Aizen.
Zansatsu began to ascend toward the portal. He looked down to see Yamamoto seal his zanpakutou, pick up the unconscious Hitsugaya in his arms, and flash step away.
"FUCK!!!!!" Zansatsu roared, slamming his fist into the side of the yellow barrier, "GOD DAMMIT TO HELL."
He fell back, staring up at the garganta portal, his vision was getting blurry, and he found it difficult to stay awake.
"I can't believe it," Zansatsu thought as he slipped into unconsciousness, "I lost."
Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Again, I'm sorry about how long it took to update.